Why Kenya Has Remained the Hub of Marathon Runners

From the first time Kenya sent Athletes to represent the country in 1956 at the Olympic games to the latest ones in 2016 at Rio Di Janeiro in Brazil, medals have always been a major exhibition. There have been a total of 91 medals to showcase from those events with 61 coming from long distance events.

Reasons That Make Kenyans Such Great Runners

Geographical and Biological Factors Helping them Steal a March on their Rivals

The success of Kenyan marathon runners has been a subject of much intrigue among sports fans and Scientist with many theories being tossed around. Since most of the best marathon runners come from the Kalenjin community who live in Rift Valley, a high altitude area that is highlighted by mountains, this helps them in their preparations and enhances their performances tenfold. The other argument is the biological advantage that runners from the Kalenjin community possess over their rivals – this makes their bodies light and lean. Most of the Kalenjin runners, according to scientists, possess bodies that have been predisposed to less weight carrying on the feet and ankles which helps them use less energy when they want to keep up fast paces.

A Combination of Motivation and Preparation

Kenya has a well-crafted talent search scheme that sees the scouting of athletes from Primary and Secondary schools magnified to pick the best and hone their skills at a tender age. There is also the aspect of the high regard that marathon runners are held to by the Kenyan Government, which makes it easier to have them as role models for the young people. This is motivational to young athletes who are able to witness the likes of Wilson Kispang win huge amounts of money overseas.

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Tremendous Amount of Hard work

Preparations include easy and moderate runs that are not influenced by speed which is done for three months, followed by workouts which involve intense tempo runs and speed sessions which lasts for two months, and lastly tapering which involves recovery sessions to enhance the preservation of energy for the actual race for two months.

Strict Diet

Kalenjin runners having won 40% of all major international middle and long-distance races from 1987 to 1997, a dietary compilation was done which showed that that majority of the calories in their diet was from carbohydrates. This was spread out in between meals and training sessions, with most of the athletes taking about 600 grams of carbohydrates per day, with close to 120 grams of carbohydrates at every meal. The intake of protein was also a constant part of their diet with the intake amounting to 10.1% of Calorie intake – that equaled close to 1.3 grams of proteins per kilogram of body weight. According to most sports nutritionists, marathon runners who train at high mileage areas are supposed to take 9 or 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body mass per day, which was close to what Kenyan marathon runners were taking (10.4 grams)